by e.s. shankar
Lately, Pakatan
Harapan (PH) leaders and MP’s have become conspicuous by their near deafening
silence and invisibility as the Opposition. Many were so even when in government,
having thrown their election pledge of transparency and accountability in the
rubbish bin, as soon as they took office, e.g. at the MoF. No doubt, many of
them are suffering from the shell-shock of having lost the government last March. They seem not to
have recovered from the hammer blow dealt by the most racist, bigoted and
vindictive of Prime Ministers, Dr.Mahathir, whose backstabbing of principally Anwar
Ibrahim and DAP, backfired on him. That led to his shock exit and that of PH
through a backdoor coup engineered by (now) PM Muhyiddin and the coalition
comprising his minority party PPBM, UMNO and PAS, calling itself Perikatan Nasional
(PN).
Anwar’s failure
last September to prove that he had the “numbers” to convince the King to
replace the PN government with his, was a disaster of Quranic proportions. He
had apparently been supported by the very people like UMNO’s Zahid Hamidi and
Najib whom we had all voted for to be sent to Bamboo River Resort for a long
while. Next, last November, he committed an even bigger strategic blunder in
not pushing for a vote of no confidence against Muhyiddin on the opening day of
the Budget debate, suggesting he may have finally lost the plot. Sleep with the
devil? What on earth was he thinking in desperation? In the end, Anwar was sucker
punched by UMNO’s old three card trick. They used him to demand positions and
privileges in PN, where the tail (PPBM) was wagging the dog!
Regardless, the
Opposition must soldier on. The Covid19 pandemic is not an excuse for PH to
retreat into a turtle shell. The Opposition must do its job. This is politics,
not a game of tiddlywinks. The Chinese, Indians, "liberal" and reforms-minded Malays/Bumiputras and DAP are once again under
racist demonisation attacks by extremists with an eye on general elections, corruption
is on the rise, the Covid pandemic has been handled poorly and a totally
unwarranted fake Emergency declared by PN so that Parliament, its oversight
functions and a vote of no confidence, suspended and blocked!
Then we have
articles like ‘Why PN Will Win GE15 With A Landslide’ by Prof Mohd Tajuddin. CLICK HERE. He is on our side and a reform-minded liberal seeking to establish a united and
inclusive Malaysia. He contradicts himself by saying PN will easily secure 2/3
majority, but that Anwar controls 90 seats out of a 222 total. So, his clickbait
headline is really a dash of reverse psychology. I see it as an attempt to get
PH and others get cracking and not drown in their sorrows. To galvanize the
electorate to win GE15 for them.
What should we do? Cozy up to Muhyiddin and his minority PPBM
because he’s playing the populist card, a Malay-Muslim government? Suck up to
PN because, otherwise, the non-Malays will be sidelined with no representation?
Partner up with Zahid and Najib and UMNO which we labelled as a government of
thieves and fought so hard for 20 years and 2018 finally succeeded in throwing
them out? Look at the sheer audacity of UMNO’s MP Ahmad Maslan who is on trial for allegedly misleading the MACC and failing to declare RM2 million in income
tax for 2013 over payments he allegedly received from then prime minister Najib:
“One more
dissatisfaction is not so much about positions but that the government now is
continuing the cruelty of the past government. This should not be...these cases
brought to court were the cruelty from the time of (former prime minister) Dr
Mahathir Mohamad, (former attorney-general) Tommy Thomas and (former MACC
chief) Latheefa Koya. Mahathir is no longer in government, and I don't know
where Thomas and Latheefa have gone but why have these cases continued?" Continuing
the charges against Umno leaders means the current government is also cruel,
thus necessitating a general election so a new government can be elected.” CLICK HERE.
He is implying
that the rule of law does not apply equally to all, that there may be some
special provision in law whereby high ranking UMNO politicians should not be
prosecuted for alleged serious crimes such as multi-hundred million and billion ringgit fraud, CBT, AMLA, abuse of
power etc., while the book should be thrown at ordinary citizens for RM1
thefts and minor shop lifting crimes.
Some others
are suggesting that the Emergency and temporary, almost absolute power of PM Muhyiddin,
be extended indefinitely to establish a kind of “benevolent dictatorship”, a contradiction in terms. Muhyiddin might then be persuaded to smoke the peace pipe with us
and carry out major reforms. Seriously? A publicly self-confessed “I am Malay
first” Muhyiddin will risk losing the entire Malay vote and GE15 by championing
reduction/withdrawal of Bumiputra privileges under the NEP? Downsize the 1.6
million bloated civil service and restore meritocracy therein and in employment
in top positions in the joint forces, courts, schools, colleges, universities
and GLC’s? Equitable distribution of scholarships? A more inclusive public
sector? Abolish Federal JAKIM? Deport Zakir Naik? Two-term limit for the PM? You might as well ask him to
put a bullet in his head right now.
PN figures that
playing the populist race, creed, colour, religion and "patriotism" card will be their best bet to victory at GE15. Make Malaysia Great Again (MMGA)! Oh, yes, and from
whom have we recently heard a similar cry? Why, it was from none other than
that congenital, inveterate, uncouth, crude, rude, coarse, dishonest, graceless fake, fraud, liar, rogue, bully and scoundrel, ex-US President Donald Trump and his MAGA!
Where is he now? History! Rest assured, he’s finished for good, and his legacy,
a Disunited States of America, is a crying shame and disgrace.
We should
learn from history, not mock it. Populist politicians will not last long.
Populism will not last long. Trump lasted a horrible 4 years. PN is as unstable a
coalition as any. Their MP’s squabbles openly, a few have publicly declared
they do not support the PM. So, it would appear that PM Muhyiddin does not "have
the numbers” and would not survive a vote of no confidence in Parliament.
Would any sane person vote in favour of a Disunited Malaysia?
So, what
should we do? We go back to first principles. Ethics matter. Honesty matters. Principles
matter. NOT being liars, extremists, supremacists, racists, bigots, haters of women, practitioners of child marriages and female genital mutilation and phobic
about religions, matters. Anti-corruption matters. In the short term, we may not have the luxury of
finding people and parties with all these ideal traits, so, a compromise of
sorts will have to me made. We need a coalition of like minded people to take
back our government. We work with PKR, DAP, Amanah, Warisan. We work with the
newly formed MAJU which seeks to identify and champion MPs who will adhere to
universal principles, no frogging and possibly form a block of unshakeable king makers.
As Prof
Tajuddin says, let’s work out a deal with Sabah and Sarawak, bring them into
the mainstream of MALAYSIAN governance and government to counter the threat of a
non-inclusive dominant Islamic Government. And why not a Sabah or Sarawak PM or
DPM, perhaps on a rotation basis? Whatever it takes.
We did it at GE14, we can do it again. What do we need? We need:
- People with the right stuff.
- People who think long term.
- To get on our side the 3-5 million 18-20 year old youths who will be eligible to vote at GE15.
- Joe Biden’s election strategist. We do not need to win every seat. The Malay vote is split at least 4 ways. That’s not going to change. We need to focus also on constituencies where the nons will be the king makers, i.e. the marginal seats.
- To bring Sabah and Sarawak into our fold, to dismantle especially UMNO/PPBM’s Sarawak “fixed deposit”.
- No Mahathir in government, ever again. We’ll win without him or die trying!
Remember, there’s nothing seditious in talking about us
taking back our government or retiring PN via the ballot box, fake Emergency or
not. We love our country, but we may not love our government, its Ministers and
MPs and are entitled to say so publicly.
Who shall lead us? That’s the $64,000 question. Again, short
term, we do not have a wide choice and will have to work with the material we
have. Let the coalition decide, their choice will not be worse than Najib or Muhyiddin. Long term, we’ll have to make key changes to
our education system for the right leaders to rise.
Is all that shooting for the stars? Impractical? Certainly not. Better that and preserve our honour and dignity than surrender meekly to pseudo and actual religio-fascists. Our mission is very, very clear. Perikatan Nasional - OUT! OUT! OUT! We, every single one of us, Malays, Indians, Chinese, Others, Sabahans and Sarawakians, must all unite and start NOW to canvass support with an even greater intensity than we did for GE14, for the new PH government to emerge clear winners at GE15. Get the word out today. Get everyone registered to vote. This will be the battle of and for our lives.😊😊😊
